Grief & Loss

Definition of Grief

Grief is the natural, human response to a significant loss. This is a very general definition of grief. People experience and express grief in unique ways. No two losses are the same between people and even for the same person at different times. One can experience grief symptoms on multiple levels:

Physical

Emotional

Cognitive

Spiritual

Social

How you define and experience grief is impacted by cultural traditions, your history of dealing with loss, experience of trauma, current stress and your belief systems.

Others define grief as the feeling you get when you need someone one more time and you reach out for them only to find out they are no longer there.

Grief occurs when there is a loss of connection with a person, pet, community or way of life.

Grief symptoms are different for each person and can even be different for the same person during different seasons of grief.

The bereaved frequently report the experience of having "waves of grief" that come and go, in a sometimes unpredictable fashion.

People experience and express grief in unique ways. No two losses are the same between people and even for the same person at different times